


The Truth Hurts

by AimAim94



Series: Comfortember 2020 [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, M/M, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, super family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27499570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AimAim94/pseuds/AimAim94
Summary: Peter is struggling to sleep--But why?
Relationships: Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Comfortember 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996336
Comments: 3
Kudos: 202
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	The Truth Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Tuesday! 
> 
> This Tuesday's been a bit mean. Got into a disagreement at work that was heated. I also got trapped at work because we were told to take shelter for a possible tornado even though I had already stayed late on an awful day and I just wanted to be home. 
> 
> You know what I did well today though--You don't know me--But this is big--I ate three meals today. *I hear you cheering* THANK YOU! I'm proud of me too.
> 
> RANDOM FACT ABOUT ME: I get asked a lot what mental illness feels like. I can easily describe anxiety as being like a computer with a million tabs open but the computer is on fire. There is also someone running around screaming about it but refusing to do anything to help themselves.  
> I was stumped on how to describe depression though. I figured it out though. Depression is that moment when someone looks at you and asks if you're okay and you give that little half smile and respond with, "I'm just tired..."  
> Let me know if you want me to describe my other mental health disorders. It's actually kind of soothing.

Peter walked into the tower after a long day at school. It seemed like from the moment he woke up that things would continue to just go wrong. No, pause. It started from the moment he had laid down to go to sleep the night before. He had been out too late and then he had felt exhausted but suddenly his thoughts were racing and he couldn’t sleep. 

He was still awake when his alarm rang and he had groaned and tried to roll over but it wasn’t long when his papa was in his room making sure he was awake for breakfast. He should have just told him about his awful night of sleep, but then he would have called his dad who was out of town and his dad would have worried. Peter had forced himself into the shower and to get dressed.

He had gotten to school only to find that he had a test in Spanish that he had forgotten about and no matter how hard he tried, that was one class he would never be naturally good at. He hadn’t studied at all because of late patrols behind Papa’s back. He felt like this was the universe’s way of getting back at him for doing that to his Papa. He had easily failed that test.

At lunch he sat down with his food only to hear the lunch lady tell a new student that they couldn’t get their food because their account was in the negative. Peter had cringed at this. He had more than enough and then some. He couldn’t imagine ever going hungry and he didn’t want someone else to have to. He quickly walked over and gave the child his lunch. The new student—A freshman had tried to insist he didn’t need to but Peter just smiled and left it on the table in front of him. He got distracted talking to Ned and never made it back in line for another round of lunch.

Peter had a pounding headache by the end of the day and no longer cared about how hungry he was. Tired was winning out. He didn’t even want to patrol. He wanted to hide in a blanket fort and avoid the real world for a bit; people never told you how scary growing up is. They don’t tell you that it takes a special kind of strength to get through some days—And he wasn’t talking about his super strength either. No, this strength comes from inside of you.

Peter quickly made a fort in his room using his closet door, his desk, and his desk chair. He may have also used some webs for stabilization. He grabbed a pillow and a blanket and climbed into the fort, “Fri? Can you block out all the noise?” Peter whispered as his eyes were already closing.

“Sure, Peter. I’ve also turned down the lights to 10%.” Friday replied quickly.

~

Steve found it odd that when he had gotten home from his time at the gym with Bucky and Sam that Peter was nowhere to be found. He confirmed with Friday that he wasn’t patrolling before heading down the hall to his bedroom.

He opened the door quietly and found that Peter had made a fort. He opened it a peek to see that Peter was fast asleep. Steve smiled and exited the room. The kid must be exhausted. Wait, why was the kid exhausted?

~

Peter woke up to his stomach growling hours later. He wandered out of the fort and into the kitchen. He found his Papa on the phone on a video chat with his dad. He wrapped his arms around his Papa in a hug who ruffled his hair.

“Just the kid I was waiting on.” Tony said on the screen.

“When do you come home?” Peter turned around to ask his dad.

“Tomorrow morning my time and night for you. I have a question though. When is curfew for Spider-Man?” Tony asked the question in a nonchalant way but Peter knew that he knew about his late patrols. He didn’t know how because he had asked Ned to hack the suit again but somehow he knew. Calm down. There is no way he knows. He needed to answer. He’d been thinking quietly too long.

“10pm on school nights. 11pm for weekends.” Peter answered quietly.

“Ahh. You do know. I had thought you must have forgotten because there is no way you’d take advantage of the fact that I left for a week and have your friend hack the suit so I wouldn’t know how long you were out patrolling at night. You wouldn’t do that, right?” Tony’s voice was a bit sharper.

“Right.” Peter wasn’t going to confirm what his dad thought he knew. There was no way he had proof of this.

“Peter Benjamin Stark.” Tony warned, “I raised you better than to lie to me.”

“I didn’t.” Peter insisted loudly.

Tony forwarded a video of Peter patrolling last night with a time stamp of 12am. Peter groaned. Why did everyone have to video him while he was out as Spider-Man?

“Want to try again?” Steve asked quietly from behind him.

“So I patrolled a little late.” Peter paced the kitchen, “It’s not like anything bad happened because of it.”

“Nothing bad? How much sleep did you get last night? Do not lie to me. I swear, Peter. You don’t want to.” Tony said firmly.

Peter saw in both his dad and papa’s faces. They were not messing around. He had no choice but to tell the truth. They probably already had Friday alert them to the truth anyway, “I didn’t sleep until I got home from school, but—“

“No. I don’t want to hear it!” Tony yelled, “Grounded. School, homework, family time, and bed. That’s it. What you do is a privilege and it can be taken away if you abuse it.”

“That’s not fair! Spider-Man isn’t a privilege. He’s who I am. You can’t take that away.” Peter crossed his arms over his chest.

“Funny, that birth certificate that labels me as your father thinks otherwise.” Tony retorted.

“Hm. Where were you when I was born then?” Peter threw in his face before walking away and slamming his bedroom door.

~

“He didn’t mean it.” Steve told his husband.

  
  


“No, he did. He’s angry. He has a right to be angry. I just thought we had worked past all of those feelings. I was involved in his life from the moment I knew about him and I took him in when his mom passed away. Maybe he’s not okay with it all though. I should have kept talking about it with him.”

“We’ll all talk as a family tomorrow.” Steve promised, “Just try not to overthink this.”

~

“Where’s Peter?” Tony asked, coming into the tower. He was jet lagged and tired but he needed to work things out with his kid.

“Sulking in his room. He’s been hiding from everyone in his blanket fort.” Steve explained.

“Hm. Well it’s time to face some real problems.” Tony walked down the hall to his son’s room knocking before opening the door.

“Bubba. Come out so we can talk.” Tony told the kid.

“You shouldn’t be nice. You should hate me.” Peter said quietly from still in the fort.

  
  


Tony looked at the fort and knew he was about to be in a world of pain tomorrow. He climbed right in and laid down next to his son, “I don’t hate you. I also think that what you said came from real feelings that we need to work through because you can’t throw that at me anytime you’re upset about something.”

“I didn’t even know I was still mad about it. I’ve lived with you since I was eight years old.” Peter shrugged.

“It’s okay to be mad. Your feelings are valid.”

“I’m sorry that I’m mad.” Peter picked his skin around the nail on his index finger until Tony placed his hand over his to stop him.

“Don’t be sorry, but I think we should talk with someone about your feelings. Maybe we can go to therapy together?” Tony suggested.

“I guess we can try.” Peter agreed.

“Good. You’re still grounded. Actions have consequences and you should apologize to Papa for going behind his back.” 

“I know it was wrong. I’ll do better next time. I promise.”

“You are a teenager and teenagers make mistakes. You’re still my favorite teenager.” Tony ruffled his kids hair.

“You’re my favorite dad.”

“Great, now can we get out of here? I’m getting claustrophobic.” Tony pleaded.

Peter rolled his eyes, “You’re just getting old and don’t want a sore back tomorrow.”

“There is that.”

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING!!
> 
> THIS WRITER RUNS ON COMMENTS AND KUDOS!
> 
> LOVE YOU 3000!


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